There are no surprises among the top five finishers in the BFL&S distributor ranking this year. Results for 2006 essentially reflect last year’s, except, of course, for the absence of Global DocuGraphix following the company’s demise in July. Brief summaries of the top five extraordinarily successful distributorships, including present status and future outlook, appear below: 1 WorkflowOne Dayton, Ohio Established 1927 2006 Sales: $1 Billion 2005 Sales: $391.7 Million Most profitable products: Forms (33.8 percent); envelopes, folders and stationery (23.3 percent); commercial print (13.5 percent). Manufacturing capabilities: Yes Typical order size: From individual orders totaling less than $100, to multi-year contracts worth more

Labels hold their own as widespread applications become the norm and technology takes them in a new direction. From their inception dating back to the 1700s, labels continue to hold their own in today's technology-driven society. These necessary business tools carry weight with bar-coded and other quick-run designs, and are used on everything from shampoo bottles to heavy equipment. In terms of distributor sales in 2002, labels accounted for $218 million—a comfortable 10.1 percent of total market dollars, according to the BFL&S Top Distributor report of 2002. In an attempt to find out just what keeps this booming industry booming, four executives provided

Industry experts find direct mail remains robust, despite postal issues and e-mail campaigns. While not representing a major segment of distributor sales, direct mail is gaining clout as a product with significant growth potential. This is true despite postal-hike woes, and economic adversity. Even an onslaught of e-mail direct mail campaigns hasn't stunted interest in the product. As stated by Greg Muzzillo, founder and CEO of Proforma, Cleveland, its the junk e-mail that drives him to welcome direct mail with open arms. "On a very micro level, I get a lot of junk e-mail, and I don't pay any attention to it," said Muzzillo.

This stable market niche held strong in 2002 amid tough competition and price wars. Here's a telling story of two men in a camp who are approached by a man-eating bear. One of the men starts to lace up his sneakers and the other man asks him, "Do you really think those sneakers are going to help you outrun the bear?" And the man answers, "I don't need to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you." Greg Muzzillo, founder and CEO of Proforma, Cleveland, recounted that story when explaining his company's belief that competition is a much greater concern for them than

While some forms are experiencing a serious decline in sales, others are experiencing great innovation. Form sales are not declining as much as they are changing. It's a classic example of out-with-the-old and in-with-the-new. Clearly, multi-part forms are heading for that big collator in the sky. Yet industries such as health-care, retail, insurance and education are giving birth to a whole new generation of innovative form applications. In fact, solution-oriented distributors are discovering that opportunities abound for new form designs that facilitate today's workflow systems, particularly when marketed with value-added services such as on-demand production, warehousing and distribution. To find out how